Finding Hope In The Ashes Of Despair
by jay guevara
Summary: FanFic written from a perspective of visitors to the baud parents funeral Film Noir Kind of style . Chapter 3 Now here Please Read and Review, Your Criticism And Praise Can Make my storys better and My Ideas Flow
1. The Funeral

Disclaimer- I do not own the characters that i have not created obviously the ones i have created i do own unless you owned them first in which case i would like proof of ownership :D Anyway thats out of the way lets press on shall we ?. 

**CHAPTER ONE**

_"Another afternoon another funeral" My colleague Monty said as we gathered around the Baudelaire graves.  
"how long before its one of us under there.?" the words formed a bitter question leaving my mouth_

"_I don't know old friend i don't know" Monty answered my question repeating himself, I suppose if your name is a repetition, repeating things is all you know, still if it had been me in his position i wouldn't have had the answer either the truth is no one knows when we are gonna go, I mean take the Baudelaire's for example they had no idea that the end was near till they smelt the smoke wafting up from underneath the doors but by then it was too late._

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All this thinking of smoke had got me craving so i took my pack of Marlboro out of my pocket and got one out and lit it i stood there over the graves of my two comrades in arms and as i breathed the anger out of my lungs with the potent mix of chemicals a voice caught me off guard  
"I thought you had given up for good this time" Rebecca's sweet voice floated through my eardrums like she'd spoke it straight into my ear i shuddered slightly and answered her with the best comeback i could think of " so did i". "thats a terrible comeback and you know it" she said moving closer to me she took out her own pack and stuck a cancer stick in her own mouth i offered her my light and asked her the same question her comeback was just as pathetic as mine. "I said id give up when you did, You didn't".

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She had a way with words that made them sound better to the ears i could understand why she worked in the theater After my first run in with the man with a beard but no hair who's name i cant bring myself to pronounce Becky sat with me while my car was towed i didn't know her too well the but after a close run in with a man with a beard but no hair ended with me taking a bullet and Becky having to ingeniously use a hairpin to escape (a trick taught by Beatrice i believe) she left town so i still don't know her that well and i didn't hear from her again, That was until today.

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"Why did you come back" i asked her throwing my butt into the dirt We were standing in the car park now The funeral was over and i was standing by my car.  
"Beatrice was... special to me like a sister" She elegantly threw her butt next to mine for a second they burnt simultaneously then they went out.

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"Can i give you a lift" the words exited my mouth and i regretted saying them before they'd got halfway out. "sure" came the exact reply i didn't want to hear I found myself opening the door for her. I almost laughed at myself... always the goddamn gentleman even now when all was lost and the quietest places on earth were slowly being destroyed. I got in the front seat and started driving.

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"whats happening with the children" she asked me and for once i didn't have a clever response it was the last question on who wants to be a millionaire and id used all my lifelines. 

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"All is lost Becky Olaf has them he was apparently the closet by location now he has them and we are all screwed" was my eventual answer after that we didn't speak i kept my eyes on the road.


	2. The Fire

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters that were created by Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler I do however own the characters made up by me

_**CHAPTER 2**_

_As the road carried on i began to think about what it was that brought me here, not just the funeral but how i got involved with all of the death and flames that surrounded the life of the organization, i remember being a gifted private investigator, i was getting top marks on the shooting range, top of my self defense class and with the fortunate ability to speak multiple languages i could have done any number of things, i could have been a soldier, a police officer, a translator or anything else the first two of course could be ruled out by my diabetes but thats just the way of the world, i remember i was called out on an assignment for a lot of money it was to find a sugar bowl. _

_The person that hired me was a Esme squalor, she wanted me to find it as it had been stolen from her, she suspected one Beatrice Baudelaire, I told her that if she suspected someone she should call the cops she said she didn't want police attention, that in itself should have been enough for me to drop the case like a bad habit, but i was already feeding several of those and running out of cash quickly, as an added incentive she offered to boost the reward from 2500 dollars to 50,000 dollars. Quite an increase i thought my luck was in i asked her why she was willing to waste so much cash on a bowl, she said she had "money to burn" apparently that was a joke, but i didn't get it._

So i started the case and found the suspect quite easily but while talking to her i discovered that i was in the employ of a mad woman who was in fact dating a murderer, she was also involved with some very unsavory people, on the other hand Mr and Mrs Baudelaire were quite pleasant and they had very nice children, all of them very polite and well behaved i believe their names were Violet, Klaus and Sunny still i was here to collect my target and get my money, the Baudelaires explained to me that if i gave Esme the sugar bowl i would end up destroying the world, this sounded a bit far fetched so i asked for evidence, and boy did i get it, they showed me so many files and facts from there library that i was overwhelmed, i read a few of the files and soon discovered they were telling the truth, suddenly things were making sense.

_  
They gave me the bowl and the files and a map to a place in the valley of the four drafts apparently this was a headquarters of an organization known as v.f.d Also they had given to me in trust, all they had to know about the codes so that i could find my way there i thanked them for their time and left._

It was as i was driving towards my office that a car slid in front of me and slowed down i pulled over thinking it was a undercover police officer, I got out the car with my hands up leaving The Trickster By Radiohead playing on my radio, talk about coincidence, the guy got out of his car he had a strange appearance he had no hair but a huge beard i asked him what the hell he thought he was doing and he said "I'm a judge i work in the supreme courts and i wanted to ask you if you knew that helping a criminal to steal something important is an arrestable offence" I said that I wasn't working for the criminal any more i offered to show him files he said that the Baudelaires were "dirty rotten thieves and criminals" and almost instantly he took aim and blew out my tires with a handgun i couldn't tell what brand i just knew it was real, and this guy was no honest to god judge, he jumped back into his car and sped off i tried to pick out his number plate but all i could catch was V16R the rest was a blur, It wasn't long before the cops showed up, as i recall an actress and an old gentleman who was only one day away from retirement sat with me till the cops came the police took my statement and didn't believe I'd had a run in with an evil judge, i gave them the fragment of licence plate and they waited with me till the repair truck arrived. That was my first run in with Rebecca she being the actress, When I got back to my apartment i called the Baudelaires on the number they gave me with the files and i asked them how you joined this v.f.d and that is how i ended up involved in the organization, how Becky got involved well you would have to ask her about that.

It took a while for what Jamie said to sink in so the Baudelaire children are with Olaf, that's not a good thing to have happened, well i knew what had got them into this trouble but what about me i still didn't really understand how i had got involved in this i figured the long car journey would help me put things in perspective so i recapped my life from the moment i first ran into Him.

"_well I'm just glad that we could help old boy always nice to look after someone who has had a run in with a gunfighter" the old man said._

_But I wasn't there for the fun of it hell if anything i didn't want to be anywhere near this private investigator he was a bit to cocky for my taste, but it was a promise to Beatrice so i was to follow this guy, i saw what the man did to his car and i called the police, soon after they came i found myself talking to the guy i found out his name was Jamie and he was investigating the theft of the sugar bowl i also discovered he had loads of files on it, i knew he had gone to Beatrice and that was why she had sent me still the guy was kinda handsome and i thought he had that edge to him i gave him my number and told him if something came up to call me he must of thought his luck was in, still i was doing what i needed to do, i left the scene and went home._

_Soon after he called, god how needy was this guy, he asked me to come over so i left and grabbed a cab the driver was smoking so i thought i might as well light up too and as we went past the landmarks and the cigarette burned long into the night i found myself wondering why it was taking an hour to get to a place that was down the road, "hey where are we going" i asked the driver, i got no response from her i tapped the glass and asked again "where are we going" this time she stopped the cab and turned round and i found myself staring into the face of a woman with hair but no beard she had a gun pointed at my chest_

"Well if it isn't miss perfect i tell you what you shut your pretty little mouth and i wont blow it away how does that work for you" she said in a horse voice barely a whisper  


"_how about you just burn in hell" came an angry reply from my lips i meant to get her angry, get somebody angry enough and they make mistakes and this was no exception, she got out of the cab came round to the door and opened it, still brandishing the weapon in my face she handcuffed me to the car door, when she was satisfied she got back in the drivers seat and sped away muttering something under her breath i couldn't catch._

_Still while she was focused on driving i could use a trick that Beatrice herself taught me and she was an expert at this, using my free hand i plucked the hairpin from my hair using it to pick the lock on the cuffs i was soon free, this time we did stop outside Jamie's apartment and when she opened the door i struck lashing out with my foot i aimed for her fat face and connected with her throat "damn missed" i thought, still she went down like a sack of potatoes in an Irish famine i clambered out of the cab and ran upstairs only to find the entrance blocked with flames. So they had already been here and that meant one thing he was in trouble._

I ran round the side of the apartment and up the fire escape i found myself facing the apartment the fire stemmed from and seeing Jamie up against the wall facing down the barrel of the man with no hair but a beard's gun With a bullet on the way i broke the window with my foot the man turned and said "you should of stayed with my colleague now your in serious trouble" he was inches away from firing the gun when Jamie grabbed his arm forcing the gun into the air two shots rang out and bits of masonry started to fall down around us, i went for the window and climbed out watching the fight through the glass like a goldfish at a broken home i saw the man turn and Jamie grab him Jamie was thrown backwards and the man pointed his handgun and fired once, twice, three times.

_Once, twice, the third shot hit me but i didn't hear it i fell backwards staring at the ceiling of my apartment like i was trying to piece it back together i heard someone shout from far away "I tried to make his home in this world look like the one he is heading too" then either laughter or the flames i couldn't make it out._

Then she came through the fire kneeling over my lifeless body risking everything she had to save my sorry arse and i had only just met her either i made a great impression or someone asked her to be my guardian angel, angel was right she was beautiful from her red hair hanging over my face as she gave me mouth to mouth to her soft hands as she applied pressure to my wounds its odd the things you notice when your about to die for instance i never noticed how deep her eyes were... She was an angel.

Then suddenly i was awake and her pretty face strewn with dirt was looking rather shocked either at the fact that 3 bullets to the chest hadn't stopped my returning a kiss of life of my own or the fact that she had enjoyed it, i got up and stumbled over to the window and out onto the fire escape i fell down most of the stairs and when we got to the alley i collapsed in a heap i don't remember much about the journey to the hospital but i remember that Rebecca was with me the entire time.


	3. The hospital

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character used by the author of the book I'm using to base my story on, but i own my characters

_**CHAPTER 3 **_

"_This guy is a mess multiple gunshot wounds 1st degree burns on his legs" The words came from the end of a tunnel so far away._

When your waking up the world is different, harsher, lights are stronger, sounds are amplified and during the period that your getting up you always seem to knock something over.

_Something clattered "shit" the words left my parched lips as the pain went right through me, so moving was a bad idea, well that's fine I'll just lay down again,I opened my eyes and saw some guy, a doctor, he seemed like an alien doing something to my face shining lights into my eyes "piss off" i growled under my breath._

"i am sorry Mr, Oh you seem to be anonymous in my book, well Mr no name your quite lucky to be alive and awake so early, you've only been out for 3 days" the doc said.

Three days, Christ what the hell happened "what happened to me" i asked "you were admitted with multiple gunshot wounds and minor burns to your body a more severe burning on your legs, apparently you were pulled out of an 8th floor burning apartment" he said flatly, typical of a doctor to have no emotion when describing something like this "Becky" I managed to say "oh is that the woman who was with you in the ambulance, she just went to make a phone call i think" the doc said. 

_Suddenly it all came back to me, the man, the gunshots, the fire, i knew i had to get out of there, soon, before they got to my car, all of the files were in there I started to get up ignoring the pain i sat up in the bed "well doc thanks for the hospitality but i really have to be going now" i grunted as i swung my legs out of the bed, "woah woah woah" he ran over " your not going anywhere" he said authoritatively "i think you'll find that I'm going out that door and then I'm going to find a new apartment and after that well god knows" i said ripping the wires off of my body i was surprised to find i was still in my jeans "if you walk out of that door you will die" the doctor pleaded, i got up walked over to my jacket put it on and walked out the door i could hear the heart monitor beeping " i say it was too late for that doc" i said gesturing to the monitor, walking out of the hospital i hailed a cab got in it and went back to my apartment, the cab was about to drive off when Becky got in, "Where the hell do you think your going" she asked a look in her eyes that seemed to not only question where i was going but also what the hell i was doing, "I'm going back to my apartment to get the files then I'm going to head to the nearest hotel and figure out this mess I've got myself into"  
I replied not knowing whether or not it was a good idea to tell her, would she try to stop me._

As it turned out she didn't stop me she came with me but after that she left, she skipped town and i found out from Beatrice later on that she had quit the organization. Why she did what she did i don't know only she knew.

"I'm going back to my apartment to get the files then I'm going to head to the nearest hotel and figure out this mess I've got myself into" he replied, what an arsehole, i mean how could he just walk out on this he needed help "your going to get yourself killed" i said "I nearly did once I'm not gonna mess up again" came the reply who did this guy think he was John Wayne, oh well forget him i already made up my mind i was going to quit and leave this life of death behind me i could only hope to convince him to come with me, I had been talking to Beatrice only just moments before and as she had pointed out to me, that it was obvious to her that i was fond of this man.

The taxi pulled up outside the apartment and Jamie went and got into his car that was the last i saw of him till today, in a way of a goodbye i got a passing wave, and that was that until today oh well two years is a long time i wanted to know what he had been up too.

"So what have you been up to over these last two years" She asked me so i told her what i had done, basically my entire life after i got involved with the organization had been spent trying to find this headquarters while doing odd jobs for the group, I'd been everywhere from the Caspian sea on board the Q with captain Widdershins to the island where everything washes up eventually I'd met Fiona captain W's daughter as well as Friday and what had she done?.  


"_in a word my dear nothing" Nothing! She had done nothing, i couldn't believe it, but it was true then she said something that completely threw me "i want to come with you, i want to help you find the headquarters" "what!!" i exclaimed i was shocked, after all that had happened now she wanted to help me find it "No way to be honest I'm thinking of quitting now" i said to her flicking ash out of the window "oh yeah your really good at quitting things aren't you" she quipped "well maybe I'm not giving it up but i don't know where to start" i replied "well how about pulling over and discussing what our next move is" it sounded like a good idea to me so i stopped at a roadside Restaurant Well not really a restaurant it looked like something out of the Texas chainsaw massacre, we talked more about what we were going to do and decided on visiting the Baudelaires at olafs house even if it meant facing him ourselves, it was a two day drive in the opposite direction but we had to do it so we took off, the boredom of the trip but we eventually got there only to find that a play was about to commence._

We snuck in near the stage and saw the ending Violet up on stage about to marry olaf figuratively of course or so we thought, Its another story how they all ended up there and its well documented what happened next, sufficed to say olafs plan to win the fortune went tits up and the children were moved on, but what happened next surprised all of us.


End file.
